Summary(0:22) Growing up in Bronx and Long Island, never going to Brooklyn -- (1:00) Moving to Manhattan, visiting friends in Brooklyn -- (1:47) Becoming a photographer and the discos in the 70s -- (2:07) Going to Studio 54 during the blackout of 77 -- (3:08) Hearing about the riots, and Bushwick -- (4:16) Being a CETA Photographer for American Jewish Congress -- (5:19) Doing volunteer work as photography teacher all around New York -- (6:25) Getting a teaching job in Bushwick -- (8:08) First impression of the neighborhood and the workplace -- (9:49) Starting teaching, getting advice from colleagues -- (12:33) Getting robbed of her camera -- (13:40) Starting photographing the neighborhood -- (15:14) Moving to Park Slope, getting a car -- (16:31) Using her passion for photography when teaching -- (17:20) Neighborhood safety -- (18:29) Exploring the history of Bushwick and the architecture -- (19:42) Starting a photography program as part of the school’s dropout prevention policy -- (22:35) Focusing on students personal lives and the neighborhood history -- (23:17) The crack babies -- (24:19) Seeing the daily life of the neighborhood -- (25:59) Being contacted by a person she photographed -- (27:42) Photographing the positive sides -- (29:43) Getting involved with Artist Teachers Concerned -- (31:11) Showing students artwork in galleries -- (32:10) A project of documenting things that were wrong, and suggesting how to improve them -- (34:32) The project ending up reviewed in New York Times -- (34:49) Students invited to contribute to the Whitney Museum’s exhibition on AIDS/HIV -- (35:35) Applying for Green thumb programs -- (37:49) Rebuilding Bushwick Opera House with students -- (42:01) Photography as processing difficulties -- (43:21) Finalist for the National Teaching Award, meeting film crew from Disney -- (44:44) Switching schools -- (47:51) Making a exhibition at Brooklyn Historical Society in 2007 -- (53:07) Watched as Bushwick changed from a low-income neighborhood to a gentrifying hub of artists -- (54:12) Creating a website collecting the pictures -- (55:12) The Bushwick work getting shown around town -- (58:52) Getting introduced to Bushwick art community -- (59:58) Exhibited photos with Bushwick Open Studios -- (64:17) Where to find her work.
NoteAudio interview conducted on January 28, 2017, by Taina Evans at Canarsie Library. Collected through Our Streets, Our Stories, an oral history project of Brooklyn Public Library. This project is a partnership with Services for Older Adults and the Brooklyn Collection.
SubjectPublic housing--New York (State)--Kings County ; Public housing--New York (State)--New York ; Photography ; Photography in education ; Whitney Museum of American Art ; Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)--History ; Bushwick (New York, N.Y.)--History ; Electric power failures ; Riots ; Pillage ; Community arts projects ; Jews--United States ; Crime ; Drugs ; Education ; Teachers ; Dropouts ; West, Mae ; Caruso, Enrico, 1873-1921 ; Hylan, John Francis, 1868-1936 ; Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.) ; Volunteers ; Graffiti ; Abandoned buildings ; Mural painting and decoration ; Studio 54 (Nightclub) ; AIDS (Disease) ; Gentrification ; Gangs--New York (State) ; Walt Disney Productions ; Cotter, Holland, 1947-
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TitleOral history interview conducted with Meryl Meisler on 2017 March 17.